Ordinary Time 
Pause
“A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.” (Thomas Merton, Trappist monk)
When we catch glimpses of God’s goodness in our lives, we call that grace.
Open your heart, mind, and soul to the ways that you need God’s grace to sustain you on your journey.
Listen
The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?!”
And the woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:13
Think
Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake. Sometimes, it is easy for us to repeat the patterns we see without even being aware of what we are doing. In fact, it is only by becoming aware that we are living into those patterns that we can ever hope to break them.
It’s easy for us to live in “cruise control” mode, in which we make our decisions and choices without ever examining why we do what we do. However, if we live with intentionality, we can possibly break some of the harmful patterns in our lives.
Discipleship is more than just learning about the Bible. It is exploring our personalities, looking at our family history, and working on our emotional health. God is present with us when we grow in Christ into greater awareness of how we can break the patterns in our lives and live more fully into the rhythms of God’s grace.
Tyler Tankersley
Pray
God, help me to be willing to examine my life, my patterns, and my choices so that I can follow you ever more closely with all that I am. Amen.
Go
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
from “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” by Julia H. Johnston (1910)
